In the SHOWTIME main event, undefeated International Boxing Federation (IBF) super middleweight champion Lucian Bute will make the ninth defense of his title against ageless former world light heavyweight champion Glen “The Road Warrior’’ Johnson.

The 27-year-old Côté (17-0, 11 KOs), of Quebec City, is coming off a unanimous decision over Pedro Navarrete this past July in Romania and has won four out of his last five contests by knockout. In May, Côté fought on the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley undercard and scored a fourth-round TKO over Aris Ambriz. Born in Colombia and adopted by a Quebec couple at the age of two, Côté didn’t start boxing until he was 20 years old. As an amateur, he had 65 wins and was a Golden Gloves and Canadian champion. The hard-hitting prospect will face his toughest test to date in Teron, a former blue-chip prospect from New York City.

Teron (25-2-1, 17 KOs), of the Bronx, N.Y., is coming off a second-round stoppage over Jose Luis Soto Karass in March. The 26-year-old also owns a victory over former world title challenger Michael Lozada. The only blemishes on Teron’s record are a loss to current World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight champ Brandon Rios in 2010 and a defeat via majority decision to veteran Aldo Valtierra in 2008. Teron avenged the loss with a unanimous decision over Valtierra five months later. Teron was also a solid amateur and was a three-time Golden Gloves champion

The event is promoted by Interbox, DiBella Entertainment and Warriors Boxing.

What the participants had to say on Thursday:

PIER-OLIVIER Côté:

“This is the most significant fight of my career and I'm ready for everything Teron brings.

“I know this is a major step up for me but I will not disappoint my fans. Thank you to InterBox and (promoter) Jean Bedard for making this fight possible for me. And a big thank you to SHOWTIME for broadcasting this fight. I will not let the network down.”

JORGE LUIS TERON:

“It's going to be a great fight. I've been training for the past six months because of my fight that fell out with (Joel) Casamayor so I'm ready.

“It's going to be an action-packed fight. I think one difference between Côté’s past opponents and me is that I'm coming in to win. You’ll see on Saturday night.”

Steve Albert will call the action with Al Bernstein and Antonio Tarver providing color commentary and Jim Gray serving as ringside reporter. David Dinkins Jr. is the executive producer of SHOWTIME Sports with Ray Smaltz producing and Bob Dunphy directing.

For information on SHOWTIME Sports, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries, complete telecast information and more, please visit the website at http://sports.SHO.com.

With a week to go before the showdown, both fight camps ratchet up training.

The series finale of 24/7 PACQUIAO/MARQUEZ debuts Friday, Nov. 11 (8:30-9:00 p.m.), the night before the high-stakes welterweight title bout. All four episodes will have multiple replay dates on HBO. Episodes one and two are currently available on HBO On Demand® and HBO GO®.

“Pacquiao vs. Marquez III” takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 9:00 p.m. (ET)/6:00 p.m. (PT), and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View®.